Time To Take To The Trails

Our Towns

Farmington Valley

The expression ``take a hike'' will have a pleasant connotation across the Farmington Valley during Saturday's Connecticut Trails Day.

Thoughtful planning has created enough variety to suit a range of tastes and abilities.

Hearty souls can head to Torrington, where an 8.5-mile walk along the breathtaking John Muir Trail from Sunny Brook State Park to Burr Pond State Park will begin at 10 a.m. A 3-mile hike along the Farmington Canal Heritage Trail in Avon will offer a less-strenuous alternative. Granby's McLean Game Refuge is holding a clinic for beginners before its 3-mile trek. Burlington is offering four hikes.

People interested in schedules and more information about hiking sites should phone the Connecticut Forest and Park Association at (860) 346-8733 or visit the association's home page at www.ctwoodlands.org.

Failure and success are not mutually exclusive. This kernel of wisdom was the theme of former Connecticut governor Lowell P. Weicker Jr.'s speech to graduates of Westminster School in Simsbury on Sunday.

His message to the well-heeled crowd contained lessons worth sharing with youth from all walks of life. Mr. Weicker, whose son was among the graduates, spoke from obvious experience. He spent three decades on the political firing line. Two years after a painful U.S. Senate loss, he was elected governor in 1990.

Mr. Weicker told students that Americans live in a country where too many people are afraid of losing. ``If there was no losing, there was no contest.'' He's right. Youth should never be allowed to accept failure as final.